Mast climbers and hoists Mast climbers and hoists - Vertikal.net

Modular and commonality are the
latest buzzwords in the industry.
AS Climbers of Italy pitched this
feature strongly when it opened for
business a couple of years ago and
has already built up a significant
business on both sides of the
Atlantic. More recently Hek has
announced that it will launch its
new modular system range of
light, medium and heavy duty
mast climbing products at Bauma.
Meanwhile Alimak is promising to
unveil some new electronics and
remote access features that might
just change the face of the rack
and pinion business?
Is this the age of
the mast climber?
With an increasing number of
producers coming into the mainstream
market with ever wider and more
versatile product ranges, the market
for mast climbers is likely to continue
to grow at an increasing pace.
House builders throughout Europe
rarely think twice about the access
they use for new builds - they
typically call in their regular
scaffold company and have them
erect façade scaffold. In the UK and
Ireland this has typically been tube
and coupler, due to its cheap purchase
cost and almost unlimited versatility.
However tube and coupler requires
a high level of expertise to both
design and erect and it is also
becoming increasingly difficult to
find young people who are prepared
to put up with the manual labour
involved, not to mention the challenges
of erecting it safely without breaking
manual handling rules.
Mast climbers are in comparison
relatively easy to erect or install,
do not require the same degree of
reconfiguring and those using them
can work at the absolute ideal
height. There is no climbing up
and down on ladders and of course
materials can be loaded at ground
level, which is far safer than in the
air. With such benefits it is certain
that the mast climber is set to
go mainstream and grab a far
great slice of the market than it
currently enjoys.
The heaviest Fraco mastclimbers
can incorporate a variety of
craneage. Note the hoist
access to the crane.
Scanclimber
follows slip
form tower
Two cooling towers at the Neurath
power plant in Germany needed
a suitable hoist to transport
passengers and materials from
ground level to the landing
location during the slipform
construction. However, with a
lower diameter of 108 metres and
a 39 metre difference between
the bottom and top diameters, the
chosen hoist had to cope with
the substantial concave profile
of the cooling tower.
Since the sliding formwork used for
the concrete pour changed height
continuously, a key requirement
was that the hoist could adapt to
the constantly changing structure.
Oy Scaninter Nokia eventually
solved the problem together with
German contractor Wiemer &
Trachte adapting the two tonne
capacity Scanclimber SC2032F
with 3.2 metre by 1.5 metre cage.
In order to adjust the hoist mast to
the concave profile of the structure,
precision engineered distance
sleeves were inserted between
each 1.5 metre mast section on
one side in order to give the mast
the same curve profile as that of
the cooling tower.
A closer spacing of the tie-in
anchors - at 12 metre intervals
rather than the normal 21 metres -
not only helped create the curve,
but also made a strong base for the
c&a
15 metres of free standing
mast - at up to 16 degrees
off of vertical! - at the top,
which was required to
avoid of disruption with
the formwork.
The power supply cable
also had to be specially
installed. A cable trolley
was placed underneath
the hoist cage and the
ground station was
slightly elevated to
accommodate this. Due
to the changing inclination
throughout the entire lift,
cable guide problems
would have been
extremely likely. In order to
overcome this, the cable
guides were manufactured
with special rollers that
minimised the cable tension.
Wiemer & Trachte's new
hoist has been working
well for the last nine
months. The unit also
features additional
equipment such as a frequency
converter which considerably
reduces the starting current and
thereby provides soft start and
stop for a more comfortable ride
and an automatic rack lubrication
grease pump.
Standard equipment on the
Scanclimber SC series hoists -
mast climbers
The Scanclimber had to overcome the
substantial concave profile of the cooling tower.
which range from 800-2000kg
capacity - includes overload
protection, error code displays and
'clear thru' construction to provide
snag free loading of materials on
pallets. Cage lengths vary between
2.4 to 3.7 metres long with a
maximum standard mast height
of up to 300 metres.
March 2007 cranes & access
17